The numbers keep going up for the UFC.
The top MMA fight promotion recorded a 22 percent increase in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2024, per a recent filing from parent company TKO Group Holdings.
UFC raked in $61.1 million more than what they collected in the final quarter of 2023, netting a total of $343.9 million in total revenue for the three-month period. Adjusted EBITDA increased six percent up to $801 million.
A large amount of the growth came from the promotion’s media rights & content sector, which grew by $29.9 million during the quarter. It was highlighted in the company’s quarterly report that this increase largely came due to the promotion hosting one more pay-per-view card in the three-month period than what they had done during the final quarter of 2023.
However, even beyond the increase from content, the promotion saw significant increases in live event and sponsorship revenue as well.
Live event revenue increased by $12 million, a rise the company attributed to an increase in ticket sales, plus the money the promotion receives in “site fee” payments from host cities for UFC events.
Sponsorship went up by $7 million as the promotion brought in new partnerships and inked new deals with pre-existing collaborations.
While UFC continues to see increases in ticket sales, “site fee” deals and sponsorships—notably reaching a “nine-figure” agreement with Monster Energy earlier this month—the biggest detail to watch in the coming months will be the company’s next media rights deal in the U.S.
UFC is currently in an exclusive negotiating window with Disney/ESPN, giving the sports network a chance to strike a new deal with the fight promoter they have broadcasted since early 2019. It’s expected that the parties won’t reach a deal before the negotiation window’s mid-April due date, allowing UFC to field offers from competitor brands as well.
UFC currently earns $550 million a year from ESPN but is reportedly seeking more than $1 billion a year for their next agreement.
Overall, TKO saw a revenue increase of five percent ($28.2 million) to hit a grand total of $642.2 million in the quarter. Gains on UFC’s side of the business were offset by a decrease in revenue from the WWE, which saw a noticeable dip in its media rights money.
WWE’s revenue decrease in Q4 was described as a “purely timing-related” dip on Wednesday. The promotion received less money than usual for broadcast rights due to a three-month, $25 million deal they inked to air Monday Night Raw on the USA Network in the fourth quarter of the year.
The deal, which kept the show on-air between the end of their long-term deal with the USA Network (which expired at the end of September 2024) and the start of their 10-year, $5 billion deal with Netflix (which started in January 2025), was significantly less than their usual broadcast agreements.
The New York Stock Exchange reacted negatively to the earnings report, with shares in TKO dropping five percent on Thursday. TKO currently trades at $150.23 per share.
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